Volumetric Heave Test bs en 13286 49

[freelander]

I am doing some research on a British standard BS en 13286 49 Accelerated swelling test for soils with lime/ hydraulic binders. Does anyone have any background info on this test?

It looks it originates in this paper by Petry, T.M. and Little, D.N. (1992). Update on sulphate-induced heave in treated clays: problematic sulphate levels. Transportation Research Record 1362. (pp. 52 – 55). Transportation Research Board, National Research Council: Washington D.C.

Has it been used in Europe or USA prior to its intro as a BS in 2004? Does anyone have any experience of this test?

 

[iandig]

I have used this test recently in the UK. We had an issue with a site where suspected heave of lime treated soils was caused by sulfates. We obtained samples from the treated soil and tested them for potential further expansion, along with a number of control samples, some of which had the elevated sulfate contents, and some which had very low sulfate contents.
The test proved very useful, and a significant improvement on just 'attempting' to determine the potential swell of a soil using re-compacted samples in CBR moulds, which prior to the introduction of BE EN 13286-49, had been the most common method of assessing lime treated soils in the UK. At present the test does not appear to have been adopted fully across the industry, but any project where we are looking at the adoption of hydraulically bound soils, we reccomend its use.